One of the world's most wanted terrorists, 'White Widow' Samantha Lewthwaite, has reportedly been sighted at a hotel owned by Duncan Bannatyne in the north east of England.

A witness told police a woman resembling Lewthwaite, originally from Northern Ireland and also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, signed into Bannatyne’s Hotel, in Darlington, on Boxing Day, the Newcastle Chronicle reports.

The 32-year-old mother of four’s atrocities include last year’s slaughter of 148 by gunmen at a university in Kenya, say security chiefs.

Interpol have a ‘red notice’ on her.

A Durham Police spokeswoman said: “Police received a report that a woman said to resemble Samantha Lewthwaite, aka The White Widow, had checked into Bannatyne’s Hotel, Darlington, on Boxing Day.

“Inquiries are currently taking place in relation to the report.”

A security chief, in the Somalian capital, frequently bombed by al Shabaab, said: “This lady sits at the right hand of the leader directing attacks.”

She has been rapidly promoted through the ranks of al Shabaab after many of its leaders died in drone attacks.

Sighting: The Bannatyne Hotel, Darlington (Photo: Google)

The London University graduate was quickly recognised as intelligent and evil-minded enough by jihadi terror bosses to be trusted with the most horrific atrocities.

A senior Somali anti-terror officer says Lewthwaite is now at the right hand of al Shabaab leader Ahmad Umar and is suspected of ordering the deaths of more than 400 innocent people.

He said: “She is an evil person but a very clever operator.”

Lewthwaite, who went to school in Banbridge, Co Down, is believed to have directed terror raids, suicide attacks and car bombings in Somalia and Kenya, as well as masterminding last month’s slaughter of 148 people, by gunmen at a university in Garissa, northern Kenya.

She has also launched a recruitment drive of teenagers and women as suicide bombers after bribing their desperate families with as little as £300.

One London resident blew herself up at a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu in February killing 25.